FIRST JAP. RAID MADE ON MANDALAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 44, 21 February 1942, Page 7

FIRST JAP. RAID MADE ON MANDALAY

ANCIENT PALACE HIT Enemy Thrust In Burma Is Viewed Seriously U.P.A. and British Wireless. Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 20. The first Japanese raid on Mandalay, ancient city and capital of Upper Burma, took place yesterday afternoon. Japanese bombers carried out a deliberate attack and the famous Palace of the Ancient Kings was struck. The Domei news agency reports that Japanese bombers have raided Mandalay for the first time, heavily damaging military installations with direct hits. Another squadron raided Pyinmana (about 130 miles south of Mandalay) and set fire to 80 trucks.

A very serious view is taken by The Times of the Japanese thrust in Burma following the fall of Singapore and the consequent danger to the Burma Road, along which supplies have passed to sustain the armies of Marshal Chiang Kai-shek in their heroic struggle.

Threat Vital and Urgent

Pointing out that the Japanese have not only been able to force a way through obstacles in the north prematurely described in some quarters as impenetrable but also have sidetracked them by operations in the south, The Times continues: "There can be no shadow of doubt that the threat to Rangoon has become vital and urgent. And the loss of Rangoon would mean in the first place the cutting of the only means of communication by which bulk supplies can be transported to hard-pressAl China, and in the second the acquisition by Japan of a potential base of operations against, shipping in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.

"The threat to Rangoon is a threat also to all southern Burma, and that in its turn is a threat at the least in the air to the teeming population of the Lower Ganges. It would be worse than folly to under-rate the seriousness of this situation. Forces from India and China have been moving up to the front in increasing numbers. If it is possible to provide them, their bases and their sea and land communications with adequate air support the enemy may yet find the task he has tackled one of great difficulty. The time has come, however, to put aside any notion that the Japanese Army is an opponent of the second order. Good and wellequipped troops will always be required to defeat it even when it is encountered on equal terms, and it is by no means certain that it does not now possess advantages almost as great as those which it enjoyed in the Malayan campaign. Above all, its fanaticism must be fought down by an iron resolution." Allied Line Holding There is increasing support from British planes. The latest news in London indicates that fierce fighting on the Bilin River, in Burma, is in progress with attack and counter-attack. There are heavy casualties on both sides. It appears that the main British positions on the river remain intact. On the Bilin River sector the Allied forces dislodged Japanese troops who had gained a foothold on the western bank of the river, and fresh enemy attempts to cross the stream were broken up. The fighting has been violent and both sides have suffered heavy casualties, j British bombers continue to pound Japanese positions on the eastern bank of the river.

Mandalay, chief city of Upper Burma and important centre on the Burma Road, is 386 miles by rail north of Rangoon. It is built on a plain about two miles from the Irrawaddy River. The city proper is enclosed by a square brick wall over a mile each way. Here are the ancient buildings—temples and the old royal palace. There is a British military cantonment within the area called Fort Dufferin. A considerable portion of the population lives outside the wall. There is a large British garrison and about 145,000 natives, the majority being Buddhists and the remainder Hindus.